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Hi All, I'm thinking of installing some WiFi surveillance cameras at my house and thought I'd ask if anyone here has experience with this
TIA
"I didn't mention the bats - he'd see them soon enough" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Yes, I have experience installing WiFi surveillance cameras at your house.
What you you like to know?
Edit: Added joke icon 
modified 18-Nov-20 3:01am.
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Hi and thanks for replying, what cameras you use, how you control them, how you power them - any info really - one thing I don't want is any data stored in the cloud I wasn't complete control. Thanks again.
"I didn't mention the bats - he'd see them soon enough" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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There is an article somewhere here on CodeProject that may be worth searching for.
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Take a look at affordable-wireless-security-cameras[^]
I have several very cheap Chinese WiFi camera's like the Techage which work very well, especially the 'Human detection' option, you can view them anywhere via your smartphone, provided you don't mind using Chinese servers.
Could not get them working via their webpage in the browser however but they also work via ONVIF, e.g. with the iSpy Agent software: iSpy: Open Source Camera Security Software[^].
So if you don't want cloud storage you can also use them locally and record on a microSD card, they often can also be connected via a network cable.
modified 18-Nov-20 3:50am.
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I use webcams, if you are going to use wifi based cams just have a look on Amazon.
I wrote my own webcam security system which I have been using for the past 8 years (self promotion link[^]).
I would say more important than the webcams is to make sure that the software they run allows you to control them remotely as well as saving images remotely and not just locally.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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Hi what did you write the app in ?
"I didn't mention the bats - he'd see them soon enough" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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.NET C# Winforms
I also use a React frontend so that I can control it via the WebApi remotely.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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Looks very good I'll look at it
Edit
Hi Guy I downloaded the source code but I notice there are no .csproj files only a .sln so VS won't open it
"I didn't mention the bats - he'd see them soon enough" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
modified 20-Nov-20 3:40am.
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The source code is way out of date, I need to update the github repository at some point.
The install should work but I am going to take a guess that you would rather build it yourself.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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Hi Guy thanks for replying - is the code still publicly available ? I'm interested to see how it all works before I use it - I haven't even decided on a camera yet , because of the hassle of running CAT5 to the cameras I was thinking of getting wireless ones but have been put off by some of them comments on here  I think I'll just buy one IP camera and have a play with it then expand when I have a better understanding of it all ( if that ever happens ) thanks for your time.
"I didn't mention the bats - he'd see them soon enough" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Hi Guy,
I've tried to run your code, but it seems that the following projects are missing:
- TeboCam\TeboCam.csproj [fixed by renaming the directory 'source_code' to 'TeboCam']
- vfw\vfw.csproj [not fixed, there is no such .csproj file]
Maybe I am missing something
Regards,
Bradut
modified 8-Dec-20 2:53am.
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Hi Bradut,
Completely my fault, the online repository is very out-of-date and I need to tidy things up.
I am off on holiday next week(at home in lockdown instead of at home working  ) so I will try and get the changes done and committed this weekend - I will let you know once the changes are in the repository.
Regards
Guy
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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Hi Guy,
Thank you very much.
I have been interested in this subject a couple of years ago, and decided to spend my spare time this month improving my IP WebCam hobby project, therefore was curious to see your implementation.
My project controls the camera via CGI commands which I plan to replace with absolute PTZ ONVIF commands.
In my case, preset points are not reliable because this camera keeps on changing its "aiming" direction after each reset, so I need to "recalibrate" it somehow. I am thinking of offsetting the preset points with absolute (x,y) values after each reset, to compensate the deviation.
Since this is an weather camera accessible online via a web-browser, I will access the ONVIF PTZ API via a WebAPI.
If I used it as a security camera, I would just run its desktop companion software, and dedicate my spare time to other hobby projects .
Best regards,
Bradut
GitHub - bradut/ipwebcam-viewer: Web Viewer for my IP WebCam (PTZ)[^]
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Your app looks great !
What is it running on ? NAS or server ?
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Thanks - I run it on a small form factor pc.
It runs locally rather than as a service - it's a winforms application.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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I use Jeedom on a Raspberry Pi as home automation server, which has a camera plug-in. It is plug and play.
Another possibility is to use the Synology Surveillance station if you already have a NAS.
For the hardware, I have WansCam cameras on LAN or Wifi - I think the brand does not exist anymore. Cheap and does the job.
If you have a bit more money to spend on, Foscam is probably what you should be looking for.
Important thing : My cameras have no direct link to the internet, so no clounding. All of them, whatever the brand, have been proved to stream to the internet if they can.
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I installed and take care of 11 cameras at a business site.
If you are serious about the security side, I would recommend starting at ipcamtalk. Signal to noise ratio is so-so but the wiki has some good info. Avoid wireless if you can. You have to run power, just as easy to use POE.
We use Blue Iris software on a dedicated W10 system, reasonable price, has built in Web Server, there is a phone app (a little spendy, I use VPN). We do have one wireless camera, could not get Ethernet to it. It disconnects/connects a few times a day on its own, interference. I set all cameras to reboot every morning just in case. Saves climbing ladders.
Make sure the camera(s) are ONVIF compliant, watch out for cheap knockoffs that don't have US firmware.
I had a wireless camera on my patio for a while (blue iris on a spare system). Was interesting to watch a raccoon try to open a container of plant food. He eventually succeeded, didn't like it.
OTOH, doing such with a Pi is fun. Have not tried the new camera. Did have the original camera streaming.
Home Tech videos on youtube has a lot of interesting how-to's.
Watch some of the demo's at Nellys, interesting technology in the cameras that automatically follow stuff.
Alibaba is filled with so-called bargains. Be careful.
Python can be handy to check out stuff on your camera. I have a script that lists all cameras and can show the current images on the monitor. Works with USB cams as well. Handy for testing, maybe some monitoring not much else if you want to do alerts and such.
Fun stuff.
If you can keep your head while those about you are losing theirs, perhaps you don't understand the situation.
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WiFi doesn't mean wireless / powerless. The trick is getting any cable at all to them and still have them in the best locations.
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.
― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
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I installed a couple of cameras monitoring the front and rear of our house. The biggest problem was the spiders, they are attracted by the infra red, build their webs across the cameras and cause multiple triggers at night. The solution was to configure the lights in the cameras to be off, and mount independent infra red led flood lights a couple of feet to the side of the cameras.
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I paid $20 for a Sony SNC50??, only VGA, good zoom lens, NOT inconspicuous, NOT weather resistant. CAT 5 or their wireless card. As I remember, ( I wanted to have it watch the bird ( squirrel ) ( and chipmunk ) feeder ) it's easy to set it for capturing stills on motion detect, but I didn't get it to do triggered video. The dome cameras are weather resistant and less conspicuous.
A PI Zero and ( frickin - frackin 4 mile long link ) Arducam board from Amazom plus an adaptor ribbon cable 'cause the Zero's camera port is different. And Motion / Motioneyes... Gets a cheap motion detect / video record solution that may work.
Motion wouldn't do what I wanted so I can't say for sure should do multiple cameras, motion detection-recording.
( I got 6 cameras, 5 Zero's 1 Pi4 and 6 coral tanks, frame every 5 minutes ( Python script, cron job, rsync - rss ) stop motion growth movies. ( And the fastest snails you ever saw. ) )
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StackOverflow is not a code writing service. You need to write some code and if you get stuck, post the code and explain where you got stuck. 
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They aren't wifi cameras, but I use the Ubiquiti G3 Flex cameras with poe injectors throughout my house/garages. The documentation says they require 48V poe, but I've verified they work with 24V also. My desktop PC is always on, so I threw yet another hard drive in it, used the free Ubiquiti software and have been fairly pleased with it. There's also a phone app that connects remotely to my desktop when I'm out and about to get to my camera streams and recordings, no subscription service required. I didn't have conduit between my house and nearest garage yet, so I used powerline adapters (TP-Link AV600) to get to the first garage and they work great just make sure you install them on the same leg of power and as close to your feed as possible for best results. I added receptacles right beside the breaker panels in the house and garage dedicated for the adapters and the signal is great. Between the lower and upper garage I have 2 big conduits with power, cat5e, and air hose, so wasn't an issue installing the camera up there.
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Dear concerned Human being... If you want security then go wired and not WIFI... that is my opinion and... the truth. Where is any router or camera made now? Either it or I.T. is secure or it is not. No such thing as sort of pregnant exists?
If you did not make the router yourself or know it was made here in the United States of America or put your country here then you do not know if it is secure. An entire operating system can be slipped into a main board and only the best of thermal forensics and a pristine comparison non compromised board can work to detect the compromise. No computer is safe. Our entire security infrastructure here in America is built in places where they can be and are compromised regularly... so there is no safe and private WIFI! period end of story?
... I am just an old blind vet.
I have no credentials but my forty plus years experience as a targeted individual... I am a classic "conspiracy theorist" and I am proud of that label as it is a bright Badge Of Honor/pride in this Bizarro World
if this is spam then I am not sorry and your spam filters are to blame.
blessings
chuck
a blind Harper and advocate for Human Sovereignty
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Cool story bro. But I think it's understood that if you want privacy, you start by NOT setting up surveillance cameras all around your house.
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